It's a war. Believe it or not. - Jeffrey Gettleman and Nick Madigan or the New York Times (yeah, yeah. I know) are reporting some more information on the capture of Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun who was recently shown on Arab TV blindfold and awaiting death by evil Iraqi insurgents.
The American marine who is being threatened by his kidnappers with beheading had deserted the military because he was emotionally traumatized, and was abducted by his captors while trying to make his way home to his native Lebanon, a Marine officer said Tuesday.
The officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he believed that Cpl. Wassef Ali Hassoun was betrayed by Iraqis he befriended on his base and ended up in the hands of Islamic extremists.
The scuttlebutt is that after seeing a fellow Marine sergeant obliterated by a mortar from an enemy attack he was traumatized. Who wouldn't be?
Anyway, he began to talk to some of the fellow Iraqi Muslims on base and they agreed to help him go AWOL. They then turned him over to the enemy.
I find the story plausible but it's too story book for me. You know what I mean? I don't know. I think it better to wait for the dust to settle.
According to an AP story by Todd Pitman, Hassoun's eldest brother denies the NYT report.
Over at Drink this..., the tallglassofmilk pens on the subject of hostage beheadings:
The Turkish hostages were freed. Outstanding! I'm curious if anyone thinks the perpetrators didn't go through with the beheadings because these hostages were Muslim...
The fact that Hossoun, or any hostage, is Muslim does play upon the outcome I think. Make no mistake, the evil men holding this U.S. Marine are willing to follow through with their threats despite his religion. The fact is that their type has done so before. And because he is a U.S. Marine, I'm sure they believe him to be a traitor and infidel. But I believe his Muslim status will play a more influential part in the outcome.
Regardless, my hope for Hossoun remains for his safe return.
These beheadings continue to remind me that though we do not view this war in a religious light, the enemy does: Commander of the Khobar Terrorist Squad Tells the Story of the Operation.
"The four of us entered the company together. We met the Arab clerks, and greeted them. We asked them: 'Where are the Americans?' They were all in shock, and said: 'What's going on? Who are you?' We told them, 'We are Mujahideen, and we want the Americans. We have not come to aim a weapon at the Muslims, but to purge the Arabian Peninsula, according to the will of our Prophet Muhammad, of the infidels and the polytheists who are killing our brothers in Afghanistan and Iraq. We want you to show us where they are.'...."
..."We went to one of the buildings. Brother Nimr, may Allah's mercy be upon him, shoved the door until it opened. We entered and in front of us stood many people. We asked them their religion, and for identification documents. We used this time for Da'wa [preaching Islam], and for enlightening the people about our goal. We spoke with many of them.
"At the same time, we found a Swedish infidel. Brother Nimr cut off his head, and put it at the gate [of the building] so that it would be seen by all those entering and exiting.
"We continued in the search for the infidels, and we slit the throats of those we found among them. At the same time, we heard the sound of the patrols and the gathering [of the security personnel] outside. These cowards did not dare to enter. About 45 minutes or an hour had passed since the beginning of the operation.
"We began to comb the site looking for infidels. We foundFilipino Christians. We cut their throats and dedicated them to our brothers the Mujahideen in the Philippines. [Likewise], we found Hindu engineers and we cut their throats too, Allah be praised. That same day, we purged Muhammad's land of many Christians and polytheists.
"Afterwards, we turned to the hotel. We entered and found a restaurant, where we ate breakfast and rested a while. Then we went up to the next floor, found several Hindu dogs, and cut their throats. I told the brothers to leave them on the stairs so the troops of the Taghut would see them when they burst in, and be terror-stricken. [3] But it seems I thought too well of these cowards, because they did not enter [the hotel] until after we had left.
Of course there are some that have yet to view this as a war at all.
